The Game of Life and Death
by EpsilonPanda
Summary: (Self Insert) On September 11, 2022, Sword Art Online, a VRMMORPG's severs open to the public. Taniguchi Tsunako, or Kame, has been one of the lucky people to receive a hard copy of SAO. When he entered the game, he realizes that his only options are to fight, or die. Together with friends he meets on the way, he ventures to the 100th floor to face the final boss and save everyone.
1. Play or Die

*I just want to say that for those of you who requested me to write fanfictions on certain things, I will be writing them I just have to get the games, study the lore a little bit more and figure out what's going to happen in the story. So, keep an eye out for them, probably sometime after Christmas, or around summer of next year. For now, enjoy a self-insert of my favorite Anime! See ya!*

Chapter 1: Play or Die

[11-06-2022 15:00]

School had just gotten out and I rushed back home. I opened my door, kicked off my shoes and started to make my way to my room. I looked into the living room, only to see my uncle playing some Halo 3, his favorite even though it was outdated. I walked down the short hallway to the room that had my name on it and opened the door. The bed was neatly made. I had a television on the opposite side of the room with two bookshelves full of games on either side. The games I had displayed on my wall were collector's edition games, cases of my favorite games, and some game controllers that had gone bad but I still loved. On the bottom two shelves on my left hand cabinet were some box sets of animes that I liked. The top shelves was full of manga. My walls were covered with promotional posters for movies, old games, and animes. This was my true home. I put my bag next to my chair and turned on my computer. I popped a disc in to the CD drive and plugged in a helmet-type device. When my computer had read the disc, I lay down on my bed. I put the device over the top of my head and smiled. The clock in the corner read 15:15, and I smiled. It was finally time to play. "Link start!" I yelled. My vision was filled with bright colors. It asked for my log-in information and it automatically remembered it from the start-up sequence I did a week ago. My vision grew white and five words appeared in my vision.

Welcome to Sword Art Online!

My vision cleared and I was in a large open area surrounded by buildings. "I'm finally here," I thought. "SAO." I took off running through the town, trying to get into the fields as fast as I could. I passed people chatting and partying up, paying no absolute attention to them. When I reached the mean gate, I laughed with joy. I drew my sword in my right hand and ran up to the nearest boar I found. The name above it read {Wild Boar}. I sliced at it, draining a tenth of its hp. I continued swinging at it, dodging any attacks it tried to hit me with. It was soon defeated and a congratulations message popped up in front of me. I pressed continued on the dialogue box and moved onto the next boar.

About a half hour, and a lot of boar fights, later, I was level two. Even though I was leveling up pretty fast, fighting with my right hand felt unnatural. I saw two guys up on a hill fighting some boars. One had a blue shirt underneath, and the other had red armor and a white shirt. After they finished fighting the boar, I ran up to them.

"Oh, can I help you?" the guy in the blue shirt asked. He had black hair that went down to his shoulders at parts, and a stern face. The other had droopy red hair, and a face that still looked like he was in awe of something.

"Yeah," I replied. "Do either of you know how to change your dominant hand with wielding a weapon?" I asked them.

"Yup," the guy in the blue shirt said. "Open your menu, go down to options, hit settings, then there should be an option to change your dominant hand." I did everything he said and was able to change the dominant hand to the left.

"Great. Thanks, man. My names Tsuruko," I told them.

"I'm Kirito," the guy in blue said.

"And I'm Klein," the red haired guy said.

"Well, thanks again. I guess I'll be seeing you around," I said, and ran off toward a part of the fields overrun by boars. I continued to fight the boars leveling up one or two times, and soon after, the sun began to set. I was sitting against the wall to the city, watching the sun set. I couldn't believe this was a virtual reality. I felt like I could like here forever. I stood up as the bell on the tower in the city began to ring. My body felt funny for some reason and my vision turned blue.

* * *

When it returned to normal, I was in the town square. Thousands of players were gathered here too. There was a moment of silence. "Look there!" someone yelled. There was a hexagon in the sky with the words "Warning" written on it. Multiple hexagons covered the sky, and a red fluid dripped from the ceiling. The fluid joined near the bottom of an arc and a person in robes was formed from it.

"Attention, players," the person said. His voice was deep and his avatar was huge. It could only be a game master. "Welcome to my world. I am Kayaba Akihiko. I am in full control of this world at this moment. For those of you who have looked, you might have noticed that the "Logout" button is missing from the game. This is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect in the game.

"There is no longer a way to manually log out of Sword Art Online. Nor can someone remove the NerveGear from your head or shut it down. If this is attempted, there will be a microwave sent through your brain, destroying it." There was commotion from the people, but I was silent, listening carefully. This is a game master. No, the creator himself. He can't be lying. There's no way he would do that.

"Several of players' friends and families have done this, killing them in the process. Two hundred and thirteen players have lost their lives, both in Aincrad and the real world. News organizations are reporting the deaths as of right now. There is no longer any way to revive a lost player in the game. When your hp drops to zero, you avatar will be destroyed, and simultaneously, your brain will be destroyed. There is only one way to arrive back in the real world. That is to advance up all one-hundred floors and beat the final boss.

"Finally, I have added an item to everyone's storage," the game master said. People all around me opened their inventory and selected the item. I did the same with the only item in my inventory, "Mirror". I looked deeply into the mirror and I was surrounded by a white light. I heard multiple screams from around me, and when I opened my eyes, the people in the square looked nothing like they did before. I looked around and noticed a girl standing next to me. She had brown hair and was a head shorter than me. It took a second, but I realized that I knew her.  
"Aki?" I asked. The girl turned toward me and her eyes widened.

"Taniguchi?!" Her voice was high and smooth. The game master started to talk after the rest of the blue lights faded away.

"As of right now, you are all wondering 'Why? Why would the creator of the game do this?' Well, it is all for one reason. I wanted to create a world in which I could freely interact with it to my will. And now, that dream is complete. This is the end of the Sword Art Online Launch. Good luck, players." The game master faded out of existence and the hexagons disappeared from the sky. Everyone was silent for a minute or two, then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Aki began to fall over. I caught her in my arms and she looked up at me.

"I don't want to die! Why do we have to die?!" she asked.

"You won't die. And it was all for his personal enjoyment," I told her. "Don't worry about dying. I'll make sure you won't die." I heard glass shatter and everyone began running out of the town square. "Anyway, why don't we find an inn and stay there for the night."

"That sounds good," she said. I helped her stand up and she put her arm around my shoulders. We walked to the cheapest inn I could find. I handed the inn keeper some of money and he showed us to our rooms. I lay Aki down on her bed and covered her over with the blankets.

"Good night," I whispered.

"Good night," she replied. "And thank you."

"No problem," I replied. I closed the door to her room and walked into mine. I lay down in my bed and opened my menu. I looked at my stats and studied the words on there. When I got tired, I closed my menu and turned off the light in the room and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to a knock on my door. I sat up, and looked outside. The sun had just rose and only a couple of people we out on the streets. I went over to the door and opened it. Aki was standing there, and she looked amazing.

"I was wondering if you would like to go train for a while before everyone is up and moving about," she whispered.

"Sure," I replied. We walked out of the inn and into the fields outside of the town. She opened her menu and scrolled down to the option to invite someone to a party and I accepted. I began telling her how to fight and equip items from when I learned how to do them from trail and error. A couple of fights later, she began to get the hang of it. It was around noon when we both reached level 5, and we decided to go and find different monsters in the forest near the next town. When we arrived at the forest, about ten lower level monsters surrounded us. They wouldn't be a problem if we took them on separately, but when grouped together, they could easily do a number on us. I used a sword skill to kill one of the monsters, then parried a strike from another. Three attacks took it down. I looked over at Aki and saw that she was doing fine. I took down three more, and Aki was on her last one. I saw her health bar was yellow. She was hit into a tree by the monster. I rushed in front of her and parried the monster's strike. I sliced at it, taking away the rest of its HP and it was destroyed.

"Here," I said, handing her a potion.

"Thank you," I said. "Good thing we're in a party. We both got some experience for that."

"Yeah," she replied as the level up dialogue box appeared for both of us. When she drank the potion and her health had recovered, we continued on through the forest. By three in the afternoon, we were level 8 and had enough Cor, the currency in Aincrad, to buy us both new armor and weapons.

"You want to head on towards the town and buy some stuff?" I asked.

"Sure," she replied with a smile. We exited the forest and walked on the dirt path towards the next village. When we arrived there, a sign near the entrance read 'Horunka Village'. We walked towards the shopping district and Aki looked at the items on display.

"Aren't you going to get any items?" she asked me.

"I'm good. I'll wait until you get some items," I replied. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around, only to find me eye-level with a familiar looking face. He had brown, spiky hair and a long face. "Takashi?" I asked.

"The one and only," he laughed. "So, how're you doin'?"

"Pretty good. Oh, have you met Aki?" I asked him.

"Don't think so," he replied. "But I have heard the name."

Aki stood up after buying a long sword. "I'm Aki Takoshiro," she told him, shaking his hand.

"I actually have heard of you. You're pretty popular at our school, aren't you?" Takashi asked.

"I am," she chuckled. "It is kind of embarrassing."  
"Why? Everyone at out school looks up to you," he replied. "And what are you doing with Kame?"

"Kame?" she asked.

"Taniguchi is my real name, Tsuruko is my SAO name, and Kame is the name that all my friends call me," I explained.

"Ahh. I go it now, Kame," she said, stressing the word Kame. I blushed. "I'm partying with him while he was showing me the ropes."

"Oh. We'll here's a friend request, Kame. We should hang out sometime," Takashi told me.

"Yup," I agreed. He walked off in the other direction and disappeared around the corner.

"So, are you going to buy a weapon?" Aki asked me.

"Yesterday, I heard someone talking about a quest they knew of in this village where you could get a sword. I thought I'd try and tackle that quest," I replied. We walked around the town, asking about the quest until we found the NPC that initiate the quest.

"You are about to activate the quest [Secret Medicine of the Forest]. Only one party may attend this quest a time," the dialogue box stated. I hit accept and the NPC told me to head to the forest outside the village. Aki and I ran to the forest and stood at an opening. I saw some monsters come out of the trees and look at me.

"Go and hide in the trees. If it gets bad, run back to the village," I told her. The monsters where white in color with some multicolored spots. They used their roots as their legs and scuttled toward me. They had no eyes, but large mouths. Some of them had flowers on their heads, others had bulbs. Above their cursor, their name was displayed: [Little Nepent]. I began to run at them, slicing them, down, easily killing them. I had killed at least half of them when a level up notification appeared on my screen. I was level 9. I ignored it and continued killing the monsters. When they were all gone, I got the item notification of Little Nepent's Ovule. I walked over to Aki and smiled.

"Let's head back, shall we?" I asked. We walked out of the forest and into the town. The whole time, I saw Aki staring up at me. When we reached the NPC, I gave him the Little Nepent's Ovule. In return I received the [Anneal Blade]. "See, I told you that I would get a sword," I said to her. I saw her looking up at me, with a big smile on her face. Her eyes seemed to have a sparkle in them.

"Let me treat you to supper," she said.

"Well, okay," I replied. "But are you sure you want to pay. It's usually the man who treats the woman."

"No, you saved me earlier, so this is my way of repaying you," she replied.

"Sounds good," I said. She grabbed my hand and led me to the restaurant she picked out. We both sat there in silence as the waitress took our orders and brought us our food. While we were eating, I made eye contact with Aki and she quickly looked away and blushed. We continued our supper in silence, and after the waitress took our plates and Aki paid for the meal, we walked to an inn. I handed the innkeeper the Cor for two rooms and we walked each of ours. I took off my armor and changed into the nightclothes provided by the Game Masters. I sat there at the foot of my bed, looking at my hands, thinking of something. I heard my door open and saw Aki in the doorway.

"Can I asked you something?" she asked.

"Sure, come on in," I replied. She walked in an sat next to me.

"How come you're so calm, even though you can die at any moment?"

I sat there for a second thinking about my response. I sighed. "To tell you the truth, I'm scared. I'm not calm and collected. I just have a way of hiding my emotions and acting differently than I feel. Only sometimes will I show emotions like happiness, anger, and love. Right now, I'm really scared. Not for my life, but for others'. I'm worried about you, Takashi, and everyone who is trapped in here," I replied, chuckling. I felt Aki grab my arm.

"Listen, Taniguchi, don't be afraid to show your emotions. Keeping them trapped can hurt you," she said. I looked over at her and smiled.

"You're right," I replied. "Thanks for the advice."

"Is there anything that you'd like to get off your chest right now?" she asked.

"Perhaps, but it's kinda sad for me," I told her.

"Then tell me," she said with a smile.

"So, at the age of 5, I experienced something I never knew before. The joy of accomplishment. This was felt through the first time I beat a video game. The feeling was amazing. All I wanted to do was to keep playing video games. From there, every birthday, I asked only for video games. I soon had retro games, recently released games, a game of every type. This was still while I was back in America," I told her.

"America?" she asked.

"I was born in America and brought her later," I replied. "Anyway, continuing from before. At the age of ten, my mother took a large corporate job. She sent me to live with my uncle while she stayed in America to work. That's when I started to live here. That is when I started to become mad at my mother, and soon, I never talked to her. The last time I saw her was when I was ten. I once again surrounded myself with games, and this time, PC gaming. That is when I heard of the NerveGear being developed. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be in the beta tests, but I was able to get a hard copy. That brings us to now. I'm still cold toward my mother and never want to see her or hear from her again for putting her job in front of family, and I'm still a nerd about video games as you can probably see. MMORPG's were the only place where I could be myself and not be judged by anyone. The one place where any of my dreams could come true," I said. "But that's not all. When I was younger, the schools in America were horrible. The kids were super judgmental, I had no friends, and they would always try and make you look bad. Even through desperate measures like fights. This is why I started to play PC games. To escape from reality. VMMORPG's were my favorite type of game to look forward to. I world where you could act anyway you want and do anything you want. This is what appealed to me the most. I love it. But then, SAO came. I thought it was going to be a casual gaming community, but instead we were met with the options of either play, or die."

Aki's hand moved down into mine. "Thank you for sharing," she said. "Do you feel better?"

I didn't notice but tears had formed in my eyes. "Actually, yeah. Thanks, Aki," I told her. "That helped."

"Anyway, good night. See you tomorrow." She kissed my cheek and I got up and lay in my bed.

"Good night," I said as she exited the room. As soon as she closed the door, I fell asleep.


	2. The Boss

Chapter 2: The Boss

[11-08-2022 9:00]

Aki was at my door in the morning again. I opened the door as she asked, "Want to head out and train?"

"Sure," I replied. I turned off the light in my room and walked out to the plains to train with Aki. Our training continued for about a month, and on December 3rd, we headed to the town of Tolbana. When we arrived at the town, we heard about the second meeting that was about how to defeat the first floor boss. Aki and I headed to the amphitheater it was taking place in and listened to the speech. The man holding the meeting was in a blue and tan armor and was named Diabel. He began to talk about forming parties, since they have a greater chance in succeeding. Nearly immediately, I was asked to be in a party by that already had four people. One was a tall, dark-skinned man with a large axe was his weapon. One had a lance as his weapon and wore brown armor. Another had a spear and his armor was black. The last person wore purple armor and had a wooden mace attached to his side. The first name, with the party leader symbol, was Agil. When everyone was done talking, Diabel told us to meet up on the outside of the village near the forest at 10:00 tomorrow, and then he dismissed us. Aki and I headed to the town square and sat on a bench. The sun was setting and everyone that was at the meeting had started dancing and drinking. My party tried to have me join the festivities, but I told them I was fine. I never enjoyed parties that much. I felt Aki grab onto my arm.

"Don't die tomorrow," she said.

"I won't. I promise," I replied with a smile. After a couple of hours of partying, it was finally midnight. Aki and I had decided to go back to the inn through an alleyway. Two people were sitting by a tree, one in blue and white armor, and the other was in a red coat. I nodded to him as we passed and he did the same. I saw him look at me funny, but ignored it.

"What's your name?" he asked. "Sorry, but you seem familiar." I always try to model my avatars close to my actual appearance. It allows me to grow a stronger connection with my character.

"My name's Tsuruko," I replied.

"You were the one I helped in the fields outside the Town of Beginnings, right?" he asked. "I'm Kirito."

"You were. Glad to see you again. Anyway, we're just heading off to the inn. I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the dungeon," I said.

"Yup," he replied. "Don't die."

I chuckled. "Same goes for you." Aki and I walked to our inn and went into our separate rooms. I began to equip items that I would need for tomorrow as I sat down in my bed, and after I was finished, fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

* * *

It was December 4th, and it was the day of departure to the boss's room. All the parties stood near the entrance to the forest, waiting for Diabel's approval to depart. I had my hand on the hilt of my [Anneal Blade], ready for anything that would attack us. When Diabel gave the signal to move out, I felt something wrap their arms around me. I turned around to find Aki holding on to me.

"Promise me that you'll come back alive," she said, looking up at me.

"Don't you worry, Aki. I'll come back no matter what," I replied. She smiled and let go of me. I gave her one last wave, what could be the last, and ran up to my party. For the whole walk to the dungeon, I had my sword drawn, paying close attention to the forest, making sure there were no monsters around us. Diabel also gave me the job of bringing up the rear of the group and defeating any monsters following us. For the whole trip, there weren't many threats, only a couple of [Little Nepents] and wasps-type monsters.

"Look, the dungeon!" someone yelled. I peek from the side of the group, seeing a hole in the side of a mountain. The mound of dirt climbed a tower, eventually turning into a marble-textured stone tower leading up into the sky. The dungeon entrance looked old and corrupted with moss and dirt, making me very nervous of what would be in there. Diabel told the parties to move into the dungeon, and wait for him near the entrance. We did as he told and as soon as he went inside, he ordered us to split up. My party took the first right, and encountered a large enemy. The monster wore no armor at the top of his body, and only black pants on the bottom. He wielded a double edged axe, and his eyes glowed in the darkness. The name above it read [Ruin Kobold Trooper]. I was the highest level out of my whole party, so I jumped in front of them, taking a hit of the axe. It only took out a little bit of my health and I retaliated with a slash, killing it in one hit. We continued through the dungeon, encountering a couple more [Ruin Kobold Troopers] and bat enemies. We soon made it to the top of the tower where Diabel waited. I noticed some of the levels of the party members increased, so fighting the monsters is always good.

"You're the first ones to make it here," Diabel told us. We sat there, waiting for the rest, reading the guide book on the boss. It's name was [Illfang the Kobold Lord]. The guide said that when it was at low health, it switched to a weapon called a talwar. I continued to reread the information from the beta-test, just to be prepared. When the rest of the parties arrived, Diabel drew his sword.

"Beyond these doors is the boss chamber. When we're in there, there's no turning back! Now let's go!" Diabel yelled. He pushed open the door and all of the parties rushed in. Diabel ordered three different parties to take down the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels]. My party and three others were in charge of attacking the boss. I swung at [Illfang the Kobold Lord], taking part of its first health bar down. It had four health bars, but he wasn't too much of a threat. I judged him like I did on other RPG bosses. If I was able to take down a sixth of his first hp bar, and he took down only a sliver of mine, he could easily be defeated. I used a sword skill and took about a fourth of his remaining HP out.

"Switch!" I yelled and one of my party members ran in and began to attack the boss. I saw the boss begin to attack him, so I jumped in front and deflected his attack with a sword skill. I grabbed the guy's shirt collar and threw him back to the other party members. I jumped back myself, avoiding a swing from him.

"Group A, switch!" Diabel yelled and a person wielding a shield and hammer started to attack the boss with his party. "Group D, start attacking the Sentinels!"

"Got it!" we yelled and I began to take down the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels]. They were pretty weak, but could do some damage. I looked over at Illfang and saw his first HP bar depleted. We continued this pattern of switching out and attacking both [Illfang the Kobold Lord] and the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels]. When his last HP bar was red, he stopped moving. Diabel rushed up to the front of the group and looked over at a player. I did too and saw Kirito, his eyes wide open and rushing toward Diabel. When the boss drew his second weapon, a couple of players gasped. The weapon was a large blade that had a crevice at the top. I heard Kirito yell Diabel's name, but it was too late. Diabel had already initiated a sword skill, leaping at Illfang. Illfang retaliated and began to swing at Diabel. Every hit landed, sending Diabel into a wall. Kirito rushed over to him, taking out a potion. I saw Diabel push the potion away and break into particles. So this was death in this world. Just particles. No blood. No pain. Only pieces of data. Everyone jumped at Illfang, taking out some of the HP left over. When his HP was almost gone, Kirito and the person he was with last night started to attack him.

The boss's HP was going to be depleted in about one hit, and Kirito was about the land it. But at the time when Kirito attacked, the boss changed his weapon's trajectory mid-attack, sending Kirito flying back into the girl he was with.

"Let's go!" Agil shouted. We all nodded and ran up to the boss that was about to hit Kirito and take out the rest of his HP. Agil used a sword skill to knock back the boss and yelled, "GO!" We all ran in and jumped at the boss, I bashed it with my shield and took out some of its HP. It quickly got up and spun around, sending us up into the air. It jumped began to come down to hit us, but Kirito jumped at it.

"I'll kill you first!" he yelled at Illfang, hitting him out of the sky. Kirito landed and began to run. His partner caught up to him. The began to attack, one after another, taking away the boss's HP. Kirito began to dig his sword into the boss's side and when his attack was done, there was a large "V" in the boss's body. [Illfang the Kobold Lord] shattered into particles like Diabel did, and the words "Congratulations!" appeared in the room. Everybody, including me, cheered at the sight. I had level up almost three times, getting me halfway to level twenty. I hit the accept button on my notification and smiled. We did it, we cleared the boss.

"Why?!" someone yelled. I turned around to see the man named Kibaou sitting on the floor. "Why did you let Diabel die?!"

"What?" Kirito asked.

"You were part of the beta test, weren't you?! You knew what the boss was going to use and didn't share that information with anyone!"

"Beta-tester!" someone yelled. Why was it such a big deal? The guide was put together by beta-testers. I saw Kirito start to laugh.

"Don't get my confused with those noobs," he said. "I was the player to get to the highest floor during the beta-test. That was because I used katana skills on monsters way above my level. The beta-testers in here have nothing on me."

"That's not possible. You're a cheater!" someone yelled.

"A beta-tester and and cheater. You're a beater!" Everyone agreed in yelling the word 'beater'.

"Beater, huh? Sounds good." A black coat formed on Kirito as he walked toward the door leading to the 2nd floor. The girl he was with ran up to him and started to talk. He pointed to something and she began to laugh. He touched a menu and walked through the doors.

"I guess that's our cue to leave," I said. I disbanded the party. "See ya later."

"See ya," the said in unison. I walked out of the door and was the second player on the second floor. It was a large plain, with a plentiful amount mountains and meteor-like holes in the ground. One of these holes was where the first town sat. A couple of lakes were scattered about, and two towns were in the distance. I couldn't believe we actually beat a boss. There was a giddy feeling inside by chest, and I chuckled. And when that feeling ended, I felt something cold fall on my head. I looked up to find snow falling from the sky.


	3. The Day of Dungeons

*Hey, everyone. I'll be going a way for about a week for Christmas, so I'm working constantly (when I can) on this chapter. I hope you all enjoy and have a great holiday! See you all in the next chapter!*

Chapter 3: The Day of Dungeons

[12-21-2022 20:00]

I ran through the fields of the 3rd floor, a trail of monsters following me. If I could make it back to the town, I would be fine, but the odds of that happening were fairly low. I turned around and used a wide ranges sword skill, taking out half the monsters. I kicked off the ground, getting a lead on the monsters. I was nearly at the town. I looked at my health. I was in the red zone. Crap. When I was on the outskirts of the town, I jumped at the remaining five monsters. I took one out with a stab, another with a lower level sword skill. I was hit once, bringing my HP almost to zero. If I could just heal, I would be able to take them out, but I ran out of potions in the dungeon. I parried three strikes in a row, and saw the monsters pause. They shattered into pieces and I stood there dazed. When the particles cleared, I saw Takashi standing there.

"Thanks, man," I said.

"Np, bro. Np," he replied. He tossed me a potion and I used it. My health went back up to green and I chuckled.

"I really thought I was about to die back there," I laughed.

"Good thing you didn't," he said. "Anyway, I was going to explore the dungeons tomorrow. Care to join me?" he asked.

"Sure, I'm free tomorrow. What time do you want to meet up?"

"Let's say around 10:00 in the morning."

"Sounds good, see you then." He waved as I walked back into the town. I walked past the city bustling around the stores and headed straight for the inn. Aki was sitting in the lobby with guys surrounding her, talking to her and asking her to party with them.

"Hey, Kame!" she yelled.

"Kame?!" one the people asked. I chuckled.

"You were part of the group that beat the first boss, right?" the person asked.

"How do you guys now the name Kame?" I asked them. "That's not my registered name in SAO."

"Oh, someone who knows you told the newspaper that 'Kame was strong player and he was sure to beat the first floor. He could have done it on his own'," someone told me. I looked towards Aki and she blushed.

"That's fine," I said to her. "Yeah, I was in the group that cleared the first floor, but I don't know if I could've done it alone," I chuckled. "I was only level 12, and there had to be one or two players above that level."

"Did you see the beater?" one person asked.

"Kirito? Yeah. But he's not like you think. He cares about people, he wouldn't abandon someone in the game," I said to them. I met Kirito a couple of times in some dungeons and we would chat for a bit, but I didn't know too much about him. It was just his personality that gave me the feeling he was reliable.

"Anyway, Kame," Aki began, "it's late and we should head to bed."

"Sure," I replied. Aki and I walked up the stairs. "I'll tell you guys some more about the first floor boss later," I told the people in the lobby.

"Why did you lie about your level?" Aki asked me.

"Because if they heard that I was level 19, they would have wanted to party and duel me," I told her. "And I don't need that right now. I'm already exhausted enough." She laughed and went into her room. I headed into my room. I opened my menu and looked at the loot I gathered on today's hunt. I closed my menu and smiled. This game was fun. Who wouldn't enjoy it? I lay down in my bed and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to the sun on my face. It was 8:00 according to the clock. I groggily sat up, finding something weighing me down. I looked a my chest and saw Aki's head laying on my lap. What was she doing there? I don't remember letting her in during the night. I forced that thought away and I moved the hair away from her face and smiled at her. She was so beautiful. I opened my menu, looking at some items I would need. I was all out of potions and needed at least two teleportation crystals. I closed my menu and lay back down. I sat there for a while, thinking about yesterday and what went wrong with my plan. It was that herd of monsters. They caught me off guard. I was able to handle three or four, but twenty like yesterday was too much. I felt Aki sit up and look at me.

"You're drooling," I told her, taking my thumb and wiping the trail of drool off her face. I smiled at her again and she blushed.

"Sorry, I just came into your room because I couldn't get to sleep," she said.

"That's fine. Don't worry about it," I said. "So why couldn't you sleep?"

"Well," she said, taking a pause. She looked down at her thumbs and blushed. "I was worried about you," she answered quietly. "On the friend's list, you can see their health and the floor their on, it just won't give you an exact location. When I was sitting here, I saw your health drop to red and inch closer and closer to zero. I was worried about what was going to happen to you. I tried to run out to the dungeon you told me you were in, but those guys stopped to talk to me, so I couldn't make sure you were alive or not."

"That's understandable. I'm glad you were worried about me," I said. She hugged me, and I put my arms around her.

"I'm so glad you didn't die," she whispered in my ear.

"Me too. Anyway, I have to meet up with Takashi in a bit, but want to go walking around for a while?"

"Sure," she said with a grin. She walked out of my room and into hers to change. What was that about earlier? She was worried about me? It felt like she was telling me she liked me. No. That couldn't be it. There's no way that girl could like me. I equipped my armor and walked out of the room.

She was standing there in everyday attire. A red shirt and black skirt, with her hair as usual. We began to walk down the stairs and into the streets. At the front door of the inn, she grabbed my hand and smiled at me. We walked down the street, looking at the stores, seeing what weapons and armor they had available. My armor I had on was fine, and my sword was okay. I would soon be needing a new one, forged by a black smith so that it would be better than a quest item from the first floor. I bought some potions and teleportation crystals and was all prepared. We continued to walk around the town. It was about 9:30 and we were near the place where Takashi wanted to meet. I stood there with Aki, waiting for him, and he arrived as soon as the time was 10:00.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed, raising a fist into the air.

"Sure," I said. I felt Aki grab my hand and pull down. I felt her lips against my cheek and I smiled. "See you when you get back."

"See you," she said. I followed Takashi out to the dungeon while drawing my sword. We entered the first dungeon, and were instantly attack by some low level monsters. We both easily defeated the monsters and walked to the rest of the dungeons. The dungeon had a blue hue to it and had a faint glow to every surface. Even the monsters had a shade of blue as their textures. We continued through the dungeon, exploring every crevice and looting every treasure chest we found.

"So how's virtual life treating you?" Takashi asked.

"Pretty well," I replied. "How's it for you?"

"Awesome! Met up with someone else from school that you probably never met, but she's pretty cool."

"What's your relationship with her?"

"We were childhood friends. Our parents went to work together and hang out all the time," he answered.

"Ahh," I replied. We continued through the dungeon, making small talk about what was happening the days before SAO's launch, and what's been going on in SAO for us. Our Cor and experience points quickly piled up, and we leveled up each about three times. We were heading to the exit of the dungeon when we heard some sounds down the hall. We rushed down it to find a high level monster standing in the last hall we needed to explore. We fully healed ourselves and jumped at the monster. I landed three hits, yelled "Switch!" and Takashi landed a couple of more. This boss had to be at least our level or a couple higher than us.

I gripped my sword tighter in my hand. "Time for our old strategy?" I asked.

"Definitely," Takashi replied. Takashi and I had a specific strategy for fighting any boss in a MMORPG. Each of us would attack from the side, cross over and continue attacking. The monster could only focus on one of us, so the person with the highest health would distract it. I looked out our health bars and said, "Well, I'm the tank this time."

I leaped at the monster and he swung his fist at me. I punched it away, and Takashi went behind him, slashing at his back. I joined in, slicing off an arm, and ramming my sword through its stomach. His health slowly drained away, and he shattered into particle. I recieved a rare drop item, and asked, "Flip for it?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. I dropped a coin of Cor and picked it up. I put my thumb underneath it and flipped the coin. When it was spinning in the air, I yelled "Heads!" When the coin hit the floor, a loud metallic clang echoed through the dungeon. I looked at it and Takashi cheered. I traded the item to him and he laughed. I picked up the Cor coin and we headed out of the dungeon. The ground was covered in snow again like every night, and there was a full moon. Wolves howled from the across the plain, and some rodents ran across the snow. Takashi and I started to walk back to the town.

"Kayaba is a genius," I said.

"He sure is," Takashi replied. I fell back onto the snow and began to move my arms, making a snow angel. The snow felt real. Everything about the snow was real. The look, the texture, and the coldness of it. Aki came out of the town and met up with us. She looked down at me and I quickly sat up.

"How'd the hunting go?" she asked.

"It went great," I replied. She helped me up, but kept holding my hand.

"Well, see you," Takashi said.

"Talk to ya later," I replied as he walked off.

"I guess we should head back too. It's almost midnight," Aki told me.

"Yup," I replied, and we headed back across the snowy plains to our inn.


	4. Mistletoe and Monsters

*I'm back. A new chapter of my other fanfiction will be up also in the next week or two. Anyway, enjoy!*

Chapter 4: Mistletoe and Monsters

[12-24-2022 12:00]

{Floor 4}

I woke up to Aki next to me again. Since that night, Aki has been crawling into my bed every night without me noticing. Aki woke up at the same time I did and chuckled. She hurried out of the room and I equipped my day clothes. I walked out of the room and she was already waiting for me in her read skirt and black, long-sleeved shirt. She looked gorgeous. We walked out of the inn and the wind was blowing. Snow had covered every road and all of the plains outside. Aki equipped a wool hat. I smiled at her and she grabbed my hand. We walked along the path leading to the next village, and she began to look at the shops. When she was looking into a shop, someone handed me a flier. I turned around, but no one was there. I looked down and saw the words "Aincrad Christmas Celebration" across the top. It took place at 21:00 and was in one of the large buildings in this town's square.

Aki finished up looking the store and we walked to the next store. The store next to it was an accessory shop, and I got a crazy idea.

"I'll be back in a moment, Aki," I said to her. "Continue on without me."

"Okay," she said with a smile. I walked to the accessory shop and walked in. The bell on the door rang and a shop keeper walked up to me.

"Can I help you with anything?" the man asked.

"Yeah. Do you have any neck accessories?" I asked him.

"Yes, we do. Now is the person receiving a wife, girlfriend, or a friend?" the shop keeper asked.

"She's just a friend, but the thing is, I want to get her something to tell her that I like her, but something not too obvious," I told him.

"Well, this would be perfect," he said. He placed a necklace on the table, and I looked at it. It was a silver string with about a dozen silver gems were placed in a symmetrical shape, three different gems on each side. On one side was an emerald, ruby, and sapphire, and it was reversed on the other side of the necklace. I smiled and looked at it some more. It was great for her. I told him I would take it and paid the price for it. I put it in my inventory and walked out to see Aki standing there.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," she laughed. She grabbed my hand and we began to walk down the streets. We were walking in silence for a large amount of time when I brought up the flier I received earlier.

"I got this earlier, and was wondering if you would go with me," I said to her, blushing and scratching the back of my head.

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed, hugging me. I smiled and a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. For the most of the day, Aki and I browsed the shops, looking for items. When the sun set and the time was 19:00, we headed to an Inn. We bought the two rooms and I got into my dress clothes. It consisted of a normal black suit. I walked out and to the town square to wait for Aki. I stood there and watched the snow flakes fall to the ground. My breaths made fog in the air, which soon dissipated. I stuck my hands in my pockets and leaned against the fountain. The people in the town square were all inside the building that the party was taking place in when I heard light footsteps. I turned around the see what could only be described as a goddess.

Aki was wearing a red, sparkly dress that came down to the top of her shins, and she was wearing boots that the tops reached to the bottom of her dress. The dress was both sleeveless and backless, and she had her red hair in a small ponytail. When she walked up to me, she had a smell that was a mix between her natural lavender smell and a citrus smell. I couldn't believe I was actually looking at a video game avatar. Rather, I couldn't believe that I was actually looking at a person. She seemed to emit an angelic glow, lighting up the surrounding area.

"How do I look?" she asked.

I began to stutter and managed a sound similar to "perfect". She chuckled and grabbed my hand lightly. Her hand was shaking. We walked into the building simultaneously. Classical music was playing and people dressed up in suits and dresses danced out on the floor. There was a table set up to one side of the room with refreshments on it, and seats set all around the dance floor. Aki and I walked over to a window and sat on the window seat provided.

I sat there, twiddling my thumb, finding a way to break the silence. Our hands were still interlock, Aki's still shaking. I leaned over to her.

"You don't need to be nervous," I said.

"Okay," she said, but her hands were still shaking. I followed her eyes around the dance floor, finding them focusing on an item hanging from the ceiling. I immediately recognized it, but didn't want to believe it. That is when I saw a person dancing like a wild animal on the stage. The person had a pastry in his mouth with a glass filled half with a liquid. It was Takashi. I sighed. Why did he, out of all people, have to be here tonight? I tried to avoid eye contact and sat there, smiling at Aki every time she looked over at me.

After at least two hours of sitting there, occasionally getting up for a dance or two, those not requiring dance partners, the bell tolled midnight. I stood up and Aki did the same.

"I got a present for you," I whispered to her. I dropped the item out of my inventory, making it appear in my hand. I showed it to Aki and she smiled. The necklace was reflected in her eyes and she turned around. I put it on her, and it glowed. It didn't move, but rather placed itself in her inventory.

"Merry Christmas," I whispered to her. She kissed my cheek and whispered the same thing back. "This is the last dance. Would you like to have it with me?" I asked.

"Yes," she said with a smiled. I took her hand and we walked out to the center of the dance floor. Slow, soft music began to place as Aki and I swayed back and forth. I had my hands on her hips and her arms were around my neck. We looked deep into each others eyes. I had finally figured out what drives me to keep fighting in this world. And I was staring right at what it was. We danced in silence, never taking our eyes off each other.

After what seemed to be a short amount of time, the song faded out, and the people on the dance floor disappeared. Only a couple couples were left, saying their good byes, but Aki was still looking at me. Her eyes began to wander and she looked up. I did the same and chuckled. Aki and I broke apart and didn't look at each other. Takashi pushed me toward her as he walked out of the building and smiled.

"It's the rules," he said with a sandwich in his mouth. I shrugged and Aki looked up at me.

"He's right you know," she said with a serious look on her face.

"What-" I managed to get out before her lips collided with mine. They were soft and had a faint taste of cherries. The kiss was gentle and my heart was racing. She quickly broke away and blushed. I was on cloud nine.

"When two people are under mistletoe, they have to kiss," she said.

"True," I replied. She grabbed my hand and we walked off in silence to our inn.

* * *

I woke up to Aki in my bed as usual, and she woke up at the same time too. She sat up and yawned, and we sat in silence. I looked at her and into her eyes and she began to blush. The silence was broken by a man running into the room, and saying, "A mission to beat the boss of this floor and everyone that is able to fight is meeting up in the north field!" The man walked out of the room and began to walk down the hall and when he was finished, Aki stood up.

"Guess I'll join you this time," she said. I hadn't participated in any boss battles since the one of the first floor against [Illfang the Kobold Lord], and Aki had been wanting to see what a boss battle was like.

"Okay," I said, "but if you get near the red zone of your health, fall back. And, let me take the damage for you."

"Okay," she replied and walked out of the room. I got out of bed and put on my armor and equipped my [Anneal Blade], then walked out of the room. Aki was standing there, waiting for me in her armor with her sword and shield equipped. We both walked out of the inn and to the fields north of the town. There was about 40 or so people waiting in front of a dungeon entrance. We all waited for a little bit and when no one else was coming, ventured into the dungeon. It was the same hue as the one on Floor 2 that Takashi and I explored, but large. Everyone traveled in one group, not letting anyway get left behind.

We ran through the dungeon, destroying the bats and goblins that spawned and leveling up a couple of times.

After about a half hour of exploring, we found the boss room. Giant blue doors with ancient writing on it stood before us. Every single person readied themselves. I gripped my sword tightly and looked over at Aki.

"Remember, don't take unnecessary damage. Let me stay at the front, and you only come in when I tell you to," I said.

"Roger!" she replied. The doors slowly opened, revealing the large boss room and the boss itself. It was similar to [Illfang the Kobold Lord], but colored blood red. It had wings that were covered in spikes, and so was its face. There was a weapon attached to its back, but it instead attacked with its claw.

I was the first person in the boss room. I sprinted ahead of everyone else, guaranteeing that I would be taking the damage. I couldn't let anyone die. If anyone was to die, it would be me. That's how it should be. I jumped at the boss, using my strongest sword skill and taking out a large chunk of its first health bar. I continued attacking it, now depleting the second health bar. I saw it move its arm and jumped back, just barely avoiding a hit from it. I saw someone move in from the side to attack.

"Stop! Don't do it!" I yelled, but it was too late. The boss had turned toward them at with a single blow, depleted their health. Their bodies broke into particles and I cursed under my breath. No human, from this point on, I would never let anyone die in this game. The monster roared loudly and it echoed through the room. We weren't ready to fight this boss. We were all too low leveled. They should have waited for some guilds to take it on.

"You bastard!" I yelled, sprinting toward it. I began to attack it constantly, knocking its center of balance off, and making it fall over. I jumped onto it and began to continuously stab its head. Soon, it was on its final health bar. I jumped back wards as it stood up. I could easily take it out in a couple of hits, maybe two or three hits. I slid around to its back and stabbed it as it drew its second weapons. It began to turn around. I tried to take my sword out of its body, but it grabbed it. Crap. It raised its arm and brought its sword down on my arm. I felt the curved blade puncture my shoulder, and I winced. The pain setting was turned to low, so that the pain felt would be small, but being stabbed still stung. I saw my health slowly drain and turn yellow. The boss let go of my sword and took its blade out of my shoulder. I readied myself again, but his attack pattern was unpredictable. It ran around me as if it was weightless, and when I couldn't find it at all, I felt its blade puncture my body through my back. My health went to red. One more hit and I would be dead.

Just when I thought I was a goner, the boss's arm stopped spinning the sword in me. It took it out and turned toward something. I felt down tot he ground and managed to prop myself up against a wall. I was breathing heavily and the pain did not go away. Through my blurry vision, I made out the figure of Aki in front of the other people that were there. Her hand was gripped tight around the hilt of her sword. She was looking down, mouthing something.

"You're going to die!" she yelled, running at the boss. She quickly parried the boss's attack and retaliated. She continued attacking it, yelling with anger, slowly draining the boss's health. She jumped up at it, put her sword in its head and brought it down through his body to the ground. Even though the boss's health was gone, she continued attacking it. She took her sword and threw it at him. She grabbed the handle and ran around the boss, completely destroying him into particles before he shattered. The boss broke into shards and the words "Congratulations" appeared in the room. She exhaled and dropped her sword. I stood up, ignoring the pain in my gut and walked toward Aki. I put my hand on her shoulder and she turned around

"Sit back down," she began, but then I looked at her. I put my arms around her and felt her relax. I was glad to be alive. I felt myself tear up. I almost died. I could have lost the game, and lost my life. I stood there, holding the love of my life in my arms. I felt Aki put her arms around me, and felt her press her lips against my cheek.

"I'm so glad to be alive. Thank you for protecting me," I said to her.

"I'm glad that you are alive too," she replied. "I should be the one thanking you. You taught me how to play this game and not be afraid. You taught me how to live life to its fullest just by me being with you everyday." I began to feel my knees shake, and my vision began to blur. Aki opened her inventory while still hugging me, and gave me a potion. I let go of her, and slowly drank it, replenishing my health. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve, making the tear drops break into shards of light, like everything else in the game.

"Everyone, come with us, to the fifth floor!" I exclaimed. Everyone still alive from the battle, stood up and walked behind Aki and me to the large doors leading up to the fifth floor. Aki and my hands interlocked as we simultaneously pushed on the doors to open them. I felt a rush of excitement as the sunlight flooded into the dungeon, and the fifth floor came into view.

The floor was a swampy marshland, but still sunny. There were four towns, the closest one being the smallest. The group started to walk across the plain. Half way there, I felt Aki's hand slip out of mine, and I turned around. She was looking down at the ground and was twiddling her thumbs. I let the others go ahead of me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Why do you keep staying with me?" she asked me. "Even after that outburst back there."

"Well, I want to protect you and teach you," I answered. "And I don't care about that outburst."

"You've been protecting and teaching me for almost two months," she replied.

"Do you feel it's time to split up?"

"Yes, and I feel like I'm a burden to you," she whispered.

"You're not-"

"Yes I am! I have to always be by your side and I'm just slowing you down! I should just go out on my own so you can advance in this death game and beat it! You could easily be in the top five players, and I wouldn't even come close. I can barely kill a boss!" she yelled.

"You just killed a boss," I mentioned.

"That's because the person I love was almost dead!" she snapped back. Tears fell from her eyes. I stood there, speechless. The person she loved?

"You don't have to help me any more! You could do a lot better without me," she said, opening a dialogue box. She hit a button and her name disappeared from the top of my vision. She walked past me, tears falling from her eyes. "Good bye, Taniguchi," she said, and quickly walked up to the others. I clenched my fists and turned around to face her. I watched her body head away from me and get smaller as she neared the town.

Then, almost before her silhouette disappeared from my vision, I yelled, "Because I'm in love with you!" Aki froze in her tracks and turned her head toward me. She began to run to me. Tears were forming in her eyes and she had a big smile across her face. I ran across the swampland of this floor too, and she jumped into my arms.

"Is that true?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I like you too," she said.

"It has been true since the very first time I met you, even outside of this game," I replied. "When you first waved to me in the hall out of sheer niceness, I was in love. And since then, I had always wanted to have the courage to tell you about my feelings. You were the only girl that I had my eyes on. When I used to see you everyday, I wished, and still wish that I was standing there next to you. That I was holding your hand, hugging you, and just being there with you. "

"My first feelings started back in junior school. Believe it or not, we actually talked once. In the hallway, I dropped some papers that I was assigned to deliver to the teacher's office room and you helped me pick them up. If I remember correctly, your exact words were, 'Seems like you have your hands full. Need some help?'. You said it so casually and with a smile that caught my heart. You stood there, helping pick those papers up and sort them like they were before. Even after wards, you took three fourths of the stack and helped me carry them down to the teachers office.

And in high school, we talked one time. i said 'Hi' to you in the halls, and you gave me that beautiful smile that captured my heart. Every day when you were handing out with your friends, I would see you laugh and smile, and I just wanted to go other to you and confess my love. And in this game, every time you would go out into a dungeon to hunt, even with others, I was scared to death that you wouldn't return. I would sit in the inn with my friends list open, hoping that your name wouldn't disappear off of it. And when you would message me that you were on our way back, I would rush to the edge of the town to meet you and see if you were okay." Our arms were wrapped around each other, bringing us close together.

"To tell the truth, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to return to see you," I whispered. She smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes. We stepped away from each other, our hands interlocked, and we headed to the first town of floor five.


	5. The Lazy Hero

Chapter 5: The Lazy Hero

[01-06-2023 15:00]

I had been two weeks since I confessed my feelings to Aki and we began to date. My dream had finally come true. Since that fifth floor boss fight, no other bosses had been found. Multiple guilds were formed to find the boss rooms of every floor and fight on what they called the "front lines". I had, on more than one occasion, helped these guilds out in dungeons and trying to find the boss rooms. I had to be at least two levels above the top guild's leader's. I had been trying to find a new weapon to fight with, but I was still using the [Anneal Blade]. Even though it was a weaker weapon, I could easily take down monsters in one hit. I had constantly trained since we arrived on floor five, and had obtained enough money to buy a house, but instead, I would spend it on an amazing sword and new armor. I had hired someone to help me in training and the different stats, kind of like a tutor. And that brings us to today.

Today, rain fell down on the fifth floor of the Aincrad. Grey Clouds covered the sky, making the floor gloomy looking. Fortunately, this was my favorite weather. I lay on the grass near a small lake with my eyes closed. I felt every drop of cool rain fall and make a _plop_ sound on my arms and face. It felt so good to lay in the rain, doing nothing. I could have fallen asleep like that. And as soon as I dozed off, I heard my name being whispered. The person who whispered it had a smooth, high voice. My eyes opened quickly to find Aki standing above me.

"Hey, Kame," she said to me, laying down.

"Hey," I replied. She was in her everyday clothes that now consisted of a short-sleeved shirt and a red skirt. I laid with my arms out, looking straight up into the sky. My mind began to wander and I sighed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Will our relationship continue into the real world?" I asked her, rolling over to look at her.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, most people who meet in a MMORPG and have a relationship don't carry it over to their real life."

"But for us, it will carry over into the real life. This is actually real life. My feelings are real, and that won't change when this game is over."

I smiled and nodded. "Same for me." Aki and I sat there for a while in silence. I suddenly felt a slam into my chest and my health drain a bit. The impact made my sit up and I grabbed my chest in reflex. I sat up to see my tutor standing there with her hands on her hips.

"And what are you doing her by Aki?" my tutor asked me. "Wait a second. Aki?!"

"Kai?! I didn't know you got this game!" Aki exclaimed.

"You two know each other?" I asked as Aki stood up to hug Kai.

"Yeah," Aki began. "We were friends during high school. Unlike the other people I hung out with, Kai was actually my friend."

"So why were you hanging out with Tsuruko?" Kai asked Aki.

"Well, we're kind of," Aki began, looking over at me, "dating."

"WHAT?!" Kai yelled. She grabbed my collar. "Is this true, Tsuruko?"

"Y-yeah," I replied, holding up my hands in surrender. Kai set me down.

"This doesn't mean that I will go easy on you," she said. "It means that you'll get twice the training every day!"

"Fine," I said, and Kai and Aki began to talk me. I laid back down on the grass and closed my eyes. Even though this was a game where I could die at any moment, these were the most peaceful days in my whole life. When a dream began, there was another sharp jolt in my stomach and it made me jump up off the ground.

"Time for training," Kai said.

"Good luck," Aki said, heading back to the town.

"Thanks! I'll need it," I replied. Aki chuckled and I saw her walked into the town.

"Time for training!" Kai yelled. Kai unsheathed her sword and readied herself. I did the same. She sent me a duel request. A dialogue box appeared.

Duel

Kai VS Tsuruko

Fight to the Yellow Zone!

The first player to have their health enter the yellow zone looses.

Prize: 300 cor

I hit the accept button and a timer began to count down. "Let's see what you've learned," Kai said with a smirk on her face. As soon as the timer hit zero, I jumped at her. I swung my sword at her and it sunk into her arm. I saw her health drain a little. She kicked me away and I jumped back. I stood there, not moving at all. Kai waited a second and rushed at me. She began to slash at me and I parried. I slashed at her and knocked her back away from me.

"Okay, no holding back!" she yelled. We ran at each other, and I quickly got plenty of hits on her. When she was about to land her first hit on me, there was a buzzing noise. I looked to the sky and a window read:

Winner:

Tsuruko

Time: 01:02

"Well, congratulations," Kai said, sheathing her sword. "You've learned a lot. How're your fishing, smithing, and cooking skills doing?"

"My fishing skill is doing great. Almost up there with my one-handed skill. My smithing I could use some work on, and my cooking is doing average," I replied, looking at my stats.

"Well, we'll have to work on the smithing skill. Luckily, I know a friend who has a smith shop." Kai led me across the swamp-lands to the next town and into a small shop.

"Why, hello there!" a familiar voice said. A guy my age came running out and I quickly recognized him as Takashi.

"Why do you keep showing up everywhere I am?" I jokingly asked.

"Because I'm just that awesome!" he exclaimed with a smirk. "So what brings you two here today?"

"Well, Tsuruko wants to up his smithing skill, and I was thinking you could help him," Kai said.

"I could definitely help him," Takashi replied. I followed him to his anvil and he gave me a hammer and a couple of metals. "Choose which on to use." I tapped each metal, examining the characteristics of each. I studied the heaviest metal and smiled. I grabbed it and chuckled.

"This one," I said.

"Okay. Now, imagine an image of your weapon and then start to hammer at the metal," Takashi instructed. I thought of a clear image of my favorite sword from any game I've played and began to continuously hit the metal. It began to glow and turn into the shape that I imagined. When it was finished glowing, my new weapon laid on the anvil. I smiled. I picked it up and felt the blade. I tapped the weapon and the name of the weapon was [The Ruined Blade]. It was a two handed weapon, but I began to swing it around with one hand. The blade was large and the top looked like a hammerhead shark's head. The blade was cracked and stained, making it look ancient and like it would fall apart at any moment. I put it into my inventory, but it was still equipped.

"Now do the same with the armor," Takashi replied. I picked out a metal and made all five pieces of armor out of that metal. The helmet that was crafted looked similar to a dragon head with spiked covering the top and slim shape near the front. The body armor had spikes on the front and was tinted crimson. The leggings had the same color and design, with spikes covering the front of my legs. Finally, the boots were regular, metal boots colored black and red, and the gloves had one large spike on the center of the top of my hand. The base color for the armor was black, tinted red in certain places. The name of this armor set was [The Jagged Shell]. I looked at my stats and saw that my smithing ability leveled up every time I made an item.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed.

"Got the hang of it?" Takashi asked.

"Yup!" I replied. "Thanks, man."

"Whenever you want to level up your smithing skill, come here. You're welcome to use this anvil anytime."

"Thanks again," I told him. I walked to the front of the store to find Kai slashing around a small blade, weighing it in her palm.

"Oh, you're finally finished," she said. "Let's head back. Aki just messaged me saying she has something to give you."

"Okay," I replied. Kai and I said our farewells to Takashi and Kai tossed him a Cor coin, and we walked across the swamp-lands to the first town on floor five where Aki waited. Aki was at the front of the town, tapping her foot while she waiting for me to get back. As soon as she say me, she run up to me and hugged me. "Happy Birthday." That's right. I almost forgot that today was my birthday. I wasn't used to celebrating it in a video game. She kissed my cheek and slipped and item into my hand. It was a small bracelet. It was black and red. I tapped it and it said that it boosts the speed stat and strength stat. I kissed her cheek and hugged her.

"Thanks," I said. Aki said bye to Kai and I paid Kai for the training. Aki and I walked back to our inn and she bought a room. Even though we only bought one room a night, she would sleep on the bed and I would sleep on the floor unless she started to have nightmares or couldn't fall asleep.

We sat down on the couch provided that faced a window. There was an awkward silence until Aki broke it.

"Was the kiss back on Christmas your first?" she asked.

"Yup," I replied. "Yours?"

"Yes," she said softly. She put her head on my shoulder, and I ran my fingers through her hair. I saw her sigh, close her eyes and smile. "I love this,"she said.

"I do too," I said, and looked out the window in front of us. This was the most peaceful time since we were stuck in this game. Unfortunately, this peace would only last for three weeks. One morning when I was in the hall, still half asleep and walking to the lobby, I got a in-game message from the leader of a guild I had helped out earlier on.

"There's a battle between the 20th floor boss! Tsuruko, we really need your help. Last battle, almost all of our guild had been wiped out."

"I'll be there in ten minutes. Be ready with your squad to head into the labyrinth. Only bring five to ten people. We can't risk any more deaths," I sent back. I had put on my armor and equipped my sword when I saw Aki come out of the bed room.

"You're leaving?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I have to go. One of my friends asked me to help them out," I said to her.

"Be careful," she said.

"I promise," I replied. I kissed her cheek. "I'll be back before you now it." She hugged me and put her hand on her cheek where I kissed it.

"Bye," she whispered, waving to me. I waved back and walked out of the inn. I ran to the town square and held a teleport crystal. I warped to the 20th floor and was greeted by the guild leader and his squad. The guild leader's armor looked devilish and was colored completely black. His chestplate made him look like he had wings, and the armor had a red aura, and his sword was red and spiked.

"Hey," he said. "Seems like you got new equipment."

"Yup," I replied. We shook hands.

"Oh, I invited someone else with us," he told me. He pointed to a guy in grey armor with fur around every joint in his armor. His helmet was shaped like a wolf's head, and his sword was a katana.

"Of course," I sighed.

"Sweet! Kame!" Takashi exclaimed. "We'll definitely destroy this boss!"

"Yup," I said.

"Well then, let's head off!" the guild leader said. Takashi and I led his group of six. The labyrinth was located on the other side of a large ocean-like body of water. Small log bridges spanned the body of water, and there was rumored to be a field boss in the lake. We all made it safely across the lake, without the field boss appearing. When everyone was safely off the bridge, we walked into the dungeon.

This dungeon had a greenish hue to it, almost like algae. The monsters in here were amphibious creatures, like frogs and salamanders. I could only imaging what kind of boss this dungeon held. We quickly breezed through the dungeon, all of us leveling up about five times until we reached the top floor and to the boss room. I looked at the guild members' health and let them rest and heal. When they were completely healed, Takashi and I opened the doors.

"When you get into the room, stay to the wall!" I ordered. "Let the boss come to us, and let Takashi and I tank!"

"Roger!" they all yelled, and we rushed into the room. The guild did as I said, and Takashi and I stood there, waiting for the boss to make its first move. The room was covered in shin deep water, and the walls were completely blue. There seemed to be no ceiling, and no boss. But as soon as I thought that, there was a shout from a guild member.

"There! In the water!" he yelled. I looked at where he pointed and squinted my eyes. The middle of the room had an endless pit of water, and a dark shadow in it. There were two yellow specks in the water, and by the time I had realized it, it was too late. The giant serpent had leaped out of the water and encircled the room, doing about a quarter damage to the guild members. They backed away from the wall. The serpent was dark blue with red spikes all across hit body. He had small arms that he did not use yet, and a devilish looking face. His sides had a gradient of dark blue to teal, which was the color of his underside.

"Stay away from the center, try to attack the serpent's tail to get it away from the center!" I ordered. They began to do that. "Takashi, you and I will try and attack its head, most likely taking the most damage. You ready?"

"Like always, I am," he said with a grin. We ran at the boss, who's name read [The Serpent Lord], and jumped at its large head. We both landed a hit on it and we smacked away. About a thirty-sixth of my health went away, and I looked over at Takashi. "How're you doing?"

"About a sixteenth of my health was drained," he replied. "I'll be fine." He rushed at the boss again, taking out only a little bit of its health in thirty minutes. I saw the boss move its tail from the side of the wall and could predict its movements. "Everyone, find something to hold onto. Preferably higher up than the serpent's tail," I said. Takashi jumped up onto the wall, holding onto one of the pillars. Was this going to work? Hopefully. I saw the guild members climb up onto the pillars, but one lagged behind. I sprinted toward him, tossing him over one shoulder, and ran up the wall, grabbed and ledge on the pillar. I was at least half way up, and falling would really hurt. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was in view. My vision began to spin and my stomach churned. I looked down, trying to cancel out the dizziness, but it made it worse. I closed my eyes, and heard crashing. After everything went silent, I opened my eyes. I saw the serpent laying there, breathing heavily, moving only slightly. We had worn it out. "Everyone, attack it now!" I ordered. Time for the tough part getting down.

Every since my child hood, I had a fear of heights. My mother had never listened or believed me that I had this fear, and I was forced to spend time a top the highest buildings in my city, go on roller coasters, both of which caused great nausea for me. I slowly climbed down until I couldn't get a foothold anymore. I sighed. "Hold on tight,"I told the guild member.

"O-okay," he said. I kicked off the wall to the center of the room, and began to fall toward the middle body of water. According to the boss, it was deeper than any other part of the room. But I, of course, was wrong. When my legs hit the water, I felt an invisible wall preventing me from falling any further. There was a crushing noise and feeling in my legs, and I collapsed onto the invisible wall. I began to yell in pain as my legs were burning. Why was it hurting so much? The damage setting was made so that you couldn't feel the extreme pain. I grabbed at my legs, gasping in pain. Everyone around me was silent, and didn't move a muscle. I managed to look at my health during the motions. It had only just entered the red zone. I let the pain fade away, and slowly stood up, the boss was still stunned. I took out a healing crystal and used it. My health rose back up and I drew my sword again. I began to attack the monster with everyone else, and its first health bar had disappeared. Only four more to go. It was still stunned when the second health bar turned yellow, and then it moved. It swirled around one of the guild members and began to squeeze it like a snake would to its prey. The guild member's health drained.

"Use a healing crystal!" I yelled, throwing him one. He reached his hand out, and as soon as his fingers touched it, he froze. His form began to shake and he exploded into particles. The healing crystal I threw him hit the monster's side, and he turned to face me. He charged, and I blocked him with my sword. I pushed my sword and he bounced off it. I took my sword and slashed at the bottom of his neck, making his second health bar turn red. He was nearly dead. When it disappeared, I jumped back onto the invisible floor near the center. I readied my self when the boss began to move, but it didn't run at me. It circled around, confusing the guild members. When I ran at it, it was too late. It had charge the guild leader and he hit a wall. I ran to him, seeing his health begin to approach zero. I took out a health crystal, but he knocked it out of my hands. The healing crystal splashed in the water and hit the wall with a small clank.

"Taniguchi. You were my friend for three years. I never saw myself superior to you. Heck, you were a better player than me back in those days of The Hero's Rise. You would have been better off leading the guild than me. Once I saw you single handedly defeat the boss in that game, I knew your potential. That is why you were my successor if I ever gave up my job as guild leader or my account got suspended," he said. I sat there, staring out into space, remembering a part of my life. A part that I hated. I was snapped back into reality with a hand on mine. "And that is what I am doing. I'm leaving this game, and you are the new leader of my guild. Take care of it, and its members."

'Yes, sir," I said.

"I just want to thank you. You helped me through a part of my life when everything was going wrong. My grades were poor, my parents split up and I was depressed. I was almost to the point of suicide. But when we beat that boss, I realized that there was something to live for. That was my guild members. They were all my friends, and I invited them to this game. I didn't invite you since I know that you were mainly a solo player, and I knew you wouldn't miss out on a new MMORPG, better yet a VMMORPG. Knowing you made my life better, and now, I can die happy." His health dropped to zero and his body exploded into particles. I turned my head to see the other guild members, the ones from the other games which names I now recognized, being hit and their bodies turning into particles. The names began to disappear one by one out of the corner of my vision until only Takashi and I were left. I slowly stood up and gripped my sword. I ran at the serpent screaming and attacking.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" I yelled at it. I continuously slashed at it, ignoring any damage it did to me. That game was my escape for two years, and that guild leader was my best friend at that time. When my health turned red, I ignored the warning noise. I saw the boss's health slowly approach zero and I made on final slash. I turned the sword around in my hand and kicked its face. I took my sword and stabbed the side of its face, and moved it through so that there was a hold lined with a red particles through its head. I turned my sword around when the boss turned into the particles and the words "Congratulations" appeared. I got a notice saying:

Congratulations!

You got the last attack bonus!

Your Reward:

[The Leviathan's Tail]

I took a healing crystal out and healed, and opened my inventory. I unequipped my current sword and equipped [The Leviathan's Tail]. It was a long sword, and had what seemed to be the spikes that were on the boss forming the separate part of the blade. I grabbed the hilt and swung it around a couple of times. It was light, easy to control despite its length of an estimated six feet. I sheathed it and chuckled. I saw Takashi staring wide-eyed at my sword I just got.

"Shall we continue on?" I asked.

"Sure," he replied, and we opened the doors to the 21st Floor.


	6. Update

Hey, everyone. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm going to be putting this FanFiction on hold for a bit. This hold will be resumed in about a month. I'm just going to be revising the previous chapters, making some changes to the whole story line. These changes will be characters, back stories, interaction with some of the characters, etc. Overall, I'm trying to make the characters a little more lovable and the story more enjoyable. So, I hope that everyone who reads this will look forward to those changes and the next chapters. See you all in the next chapter!


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